San Miguel Writers' Conference

Many writing techniques, concepts, and style improvement ideas are suitable for both fiction and creative non-fiction, including novel, memoir, travel writing, short story, and so on. Use this 90-Minute Workshop category if your topic would be useful for writers in any prose genre.

In the past we have offered workshops such as "Strengthen Your Writing with Compelling Scenes," and "Precise Language: Choosing the Right Word."

90-minute Fiction workshops usually include one or more of the following: hand-on writing exercises, a lecture about the technique of writing fiction, and/ or question and answer sessions about fiction writing.(There are separate categories for Short Story and YA / Children's books.)

In the past we have had fiction workshops such as “Creating and Developing Characters in your Novel,” “Writing the Unreliable Narrator,” and “The Scene as the Basic Building Block of Fiction.”

90-minute short story workshops usually include one or more of the following: hand-on writing exercises, a lecture about the technique of writing fiction, and/ or question and answer sessions about short story writing. 

In the past we have had short story workshops such as "Writing and Selling a Killer Short Story," “Tick-Tock: The Passage of Time in the Short Story,” "Time Traveler: Mastering Pace in Narrative Nonfiction," and “Writing the Short Story: Form and Substance.”  

90-minute young adult and children writing workshops usually include one or more of the following: hand-on writing exercises, a lecture about the technique of writing specifically for teens and children, and/ or question and answer sessions about writing for teens and children.

In the past we have had young adult and children writing workshops such as “YA Fiction: Writing for Teens: The Crossover Novel,” “Writing for Children & Young Adults,” and “Writing for Children: the picture book.”

90-minute travel writing workshops usually include one or more of the following: hand-on writing exercises, a lecture about the technique of writing nonfiction, and/ or question and answer sessions about nonfiction writing.

In the past we have had travel writing workshops such as “Writing the World: Workshop in Travel Writing,” “Travel Writing that Takes you Places,” and "See The World —Craft The Story: Composing the Travel Essay."

90-minute personal writing workshops differ from other writing workshops in that they are usually about writing not intended for publication.  

Personal writing workshops usually include one or more of the following: hand-on writing exercises, a lecture about the technique of writing nonfiction, and/ or question and answer sessions about personal essay writing.

In the past we have had personal writing workshops such as “Personal Writing: Journaling as creative discovery,” "Personal Essay: The Transformative Power of Writing Practice," and “Personal Writing: Writing Your Heart Out.”  

90-minute memoir writing workshops usually include one or more of the following: hand-on writing exercises, a lecture about the technique of writing nonfiction, and/ or question and answer sessions about nonfiction writing.

In the past we have had memoir writing workshops such as “Telling the Truth in Memoir,” “Biography: The Antidote to Memoir,” and "Using the Tools of Journalism to Write the Memoir."

90-minute how to/ self-help writing workshops usually include one or more of the following: hand-on writing exercises, a lecture about the technique of writing nonfiction, and/ or question and answer sessions about how to/ self-help writing.

90-minute poetry workshops usually include one or more of the following: hand-on writing exercises, a lecture about the technique of writing poetry, and/ or question and answer sessions about poetry writing.

In the past we have had poetry workshops such as “Wild Writing: The dharma of poetry,” “Assembling Your Poetry Manuscript,” and “Discovery:  Writing at the Edge.”

90-minute screenplay and playwriting workshops usually include one or more of the following: hand-on writing exercises, a lecture about the technique of writing screenplays and plays, and/ or question and answer sessions about writing screenplays and plays.

In the past we have had screenplay and play writing workshops such as “The Playwright’s Toolbox,” “The Big Ten: Writing the Ten-Minute Play,” and “Screenplay Writing: So You Think Your Life’s A Movie – Reel Magic!”

90-minute publishing and marketing workshops teach techniques for getting published, finding an agent, marketing a book, and new technologies in literature (social media, e-books, etc). These are not writing workshops, but rather workshops that teach writers skills that will help them disseminate their work to the public. 

In the past we have had publishing and marketing workshops such as “Ninja Marketing: Create your own video book trailer,” “Publication Strategies for the Contemporary Market,” “The E-Book Revolution and How E-Publishing Affects You,” and “Dominating Social Media: How to market yourself to the masses.”

90-minute pleasures of reading workshops usually explore a specific author or category of writing such as Mexican literature. They are not writing workshops, but rather workshops where a reader can come to a better understanding about a certain subject through literature. Please choose this category for proposals about discussions of specifics book(s), author(s) or categories of literature.

In the past we have had pleasures of reading workshops such as “Reading Literature About Mexico by Authors From Both Sides of the Border,” “The Pleasures of Reading: Reading Like a Writer,” and “The Pleasures of Reading: The Odes of John Keats.”

90-minute special topic panels usually involve three or more people who are experts in a specific field.  Topics can range from literature, to publishing, to issues such as “women in writing,” “bi-lingual writers,” etc. We are always open to new ideas for panels, but usually we do panels about writing, the literary industry, the Americas, and authors discussing a specific topic.

In the past we have had panels such as “Publishing and Marketing Panel: When You Need a Literary Agent and How to Connect with the Right One for You,” “Special Topic Panel: Women Write Their Lives,” “Special Topic: Global Migration Panel,” and “Literary Journals Panel:  American Literary Quarterlies: Their Place and How to Use Them.” 

The 90-minute “Other Workshop” category is for workshops that do not fit into any of the categories above. Before submitting in this category please look through each of the above categories and make sure your proposal does not pertain to one of them. 

If you are proposing a topic that has to do with the literary industry such as finding an agent, publishing an e-book, or using social media to find an audience, you should use the “Publishing & Marketing” category.

If you are proposing a writing workshop you should submit your proposal through one of the writing categories above (fiction, personal writing, poetry, etc).  

Thank you for applying to teach a Three-Hour Intensive Workshop during the San Miguel Writers' Conference. In order to offer a limited yet diverse set of Intensive Workshops we can invite only a small group of faculty members to take part in this program. Applicants must also submit a 90-minute workshop proposal in order to submit to this category.     

Dates and Times: Three-Hour Intensive Workshops will take place on Saturday during the Writers' Conference. We offer two time slots to attendees. Morning workshops will take place from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM. Afternoon workshops will take place 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM.

Three-Hour Workshops Genre: Each year we try to offer a variety of intensive workshops ranging from writing to publishing & marketing to special reading topics.

Three-Hour Workshops usually include one or more of the following: hand-on writing exercises, a lecture about technique, and/ or question and answer sessions. 

In the past we have offered workshops such as “Advanced Fiction: The Art of Character," "Publishing Economics and Marketing," and "Introduction to Screenwriting."

Payment: Faculty will receive $75 USD for each attendee who is PRESENT in the workshop. Faculty members will be paid via PayPal, in cash, or by check.

Thank you for your interest in participating in the San Miguel Writers' Conference and Literary Festival as a Literary Agent in Residence.

The 2019 Conference will take place in February.

As an Agent in Residence you will be considered part of our faculty.  We ask that you hear 15-minute pitches from writers. We will schedule these appointments for you on three afternoons of the Conference. In addition, we might invite you to participate in an agents' panel and/or to teach a 90-minute workshop.

If you are able to teach a workshop or participate in a panel please indicate on the submission form.  We are more interested in writing skills workshops than workshops about preparing proposals, query letters, and approaching an agent. However, don't hesitate to propose titles on those topics as well.

San Miguel Literary Sala presents two authors each month (except February) on the second Thursday of that month.  Each author presentation lasts approximately 50 minutes (including a question and answer session).   Please submit a writing sample from your book (2000 words or fewer), biographical information (200-400 words), and a photo suitable for use on our website and in printed materials.

Poetry Cafe Bellas Artes meets monthly from January to April and August through December. Aug-Dec).  If you would like to present your poetry, please submit 2-3 poems as samples, biographical information (250-500 words), and a photo suitable for use in printed materials.  Photo(s) must be JPG or PNG and ideally should be 300 dpi. The shortest side of your photo should be at least 3.5 inches (1050 px).

Submissions will be reviewed every other month. We will do our best to reply to you within 60 days.